ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig has apologised to Ivan Maric for the spray he gave the young ruckman at three-quarter time of Saturday night’s loss to Geelong.

The heated discussion was captured on television and while Craig said he didn’t regret the content or severity of the message he cringed when he saw the replay the following day.

“I felt I owed Ivan, the rest of our playing group and probably our supporters an apology,” Craig said on Thursday.

“ The reason I say that is because when I actually got to see that incident on TV—I obviously didn’t see it on the day—I was embarrassed by it as a coach. That’s not the way I want to go about my business and is not part of my trademark as a coach.

“I’ve made a significant error with the way I want to conduct my business as a coach.

“If I was Ivan, I would’ve been embarrassed as a player and I don’t want to be a coach that embarrasses players publicly.”

Maric might have earned an apology, but he could still find himself out of the Crows’ side to take on Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.

Craig said he was displeased with a ‘few things’ in Maric’s game and some strong internal competition at West Lakes could see the developing big man given a spell in the SANFL.

 "We're in a good position because we've got Kurt Tippett doing a fine job both in the ruck and up forward and Ivan who's been playing in the ruck a long time this season without much of a break and doing good work in a lot of areas of his game,” Craig said.

“Then you've got Brad Moran, who's played a couple of months of really consistent footy for West Adelaide in the ruck and is just waiting for his opportunity and Jon Griffin, who's been outstanding in the SANFL.

“A lot of clubs would like to have four ruckmen in that sort of form and we’ve got some decisions to make at the selection table this week.”

Scott Stevens will also be considered after getting through most of Thursday’s training session.

The in-form utility missed last week’s clash with Geelong after suffering a heavy concussion in the round three win over Fremantle, but appears to have recovered.

Craig described parts of his side’s performance against the Cats last week as ‘exceptional’ and said they would need to bring a similar intensity to beat the Dees at home on Sunday.

“We all saw Melbourne’s performance last week, particularly early against Richmond and I thought they played exceptional footy,” Craig said.

“I have huge respect for (coach) Dean Bailey in what he’s trying to do at Melbourne and I think they’re actually starting to—for the want of a better phrase — come good.

“They’ll want to win two in a row and it’s no different to what we need to do, which is to bounce back after a loss here against Geelong.”